McIlroy says PGA Tour merger with Saudis ‘good for game,’ still ‘hates’ LIV Golf | CBC Sports

For the past year or so, four-time major champion Rory McIlroy took on a job besides golfer.

In addition to contending on Sundays, the Northern Irishman became the de facto spokesman of the PGA Tour in its rift with the Saudi-backed LIV Golf League.

On Tuesday, the PGA Tour, the European DP World Tour and Saudi Arabia’s Public Investment Fund (PIF) announced a merger — a move that took many, including McIlroy, by surprise.

On Wednesday, the 34-year-old took the podium at Toronto’s Oakdale Golf and Country Club, one day before his attempt to win a third straight Canadian Open was set to begin.

He said the merger was ultimately the best move for the PGA Tour.

“Ultimately … when I look 10 years down the line, I think this is going to be good for the game of golf,” he said. “It unifies it and it secures its financial future. So there’s mixed emotions in there. I don’t understand all the intricacies of what’s going on. There’s a lot of ambiguity, there’s a lot of things still to be sort of thrashed out.”

WATCH | McIlroy weighs in on PGA Tour commissioner — and what comes next:

Rory McIlroy left feeling ‘like a sacrificial lamb’ in wake of PGA Tour merger

Professional golfer Rory McIlroy says he still has confidence in Jay Monahan, commissioner of the PGA Tour, adding that he thinks the future of the PGA ‘as a whole’ is looking brighter in the wake of the newly announced deal. But he says there are still questions about how things will work, and what the change means for professional golfers.

For the previous year, McIlroy railed against LIV — presenting both moral arguments in terms of Saudi Arabia’s questionable human rights record and legacy reasoning about how it means more to win on the PGA Tour, even without oil-fueled financial backing.

McIlroy was clear in saying the deal has “nothing to do” with LIV, even as the Tour gets into bed with the Saudis.

“I still hate LIV. I hate them. I hope it goes away and expect that it does.”

WATCH l Golf world upended as PGA Tour, European counterpart to merge with LIV Golf:

Golf feud ends as PGA Tour, LIV Golf announce surprise merger

The golf world is being upended again as the PGA Tour and its European counterpart, the DP World Tour, announced plans to merge with rival, LIV Golf — the Saudi-backed upstart that poached top players like Phil Mickelson and Greg Norman with the promise of massive paycheques.

The fallout from the shock announcement began Tuesday evening, when players met with PGA Tour commissioner Jay Monahan, who explained the decision to suddenly merge with those funding their rival tour.

He added that one of Monahan’s points of emphasis in the meeting was that players who defected to LIV — including major champions Phil Mickelson, Dustin Johnson and Brooks Koepka — wouldn’t just be allowed to walk back onto the PGA Tour.

“There still has to be consequences to actions. The people that left the PGA Tour irreparably harmed this Tour, started litigation against it. We can’t just welcome them back in. Like, that’s not going to happen,” he said.

Meanwhile, per reports, when one lower-level player spoke out against Monahan during the meeting, McIlroy retorted that he should “play better.” The player then reportedly told McIlroy to “f—- off.”

WATCH | How McIlroy heard about the massive golf deal:

Rory McIlroy on how he heard about the massive golf deal

Northern Irish golfer Rory McIlroy says he knew there had been discussions about a deal between the PGA Tour and the backers of LIV Golf, but says the deal announced this week still came as a ‘surprise.’

“From where we were a couple of weeks ago to where we are today, I think the future of the PGA Tour looks brighter as a whole, as an entity,” McIlroy said. “What that looks like for individual players in terms of keeping a Tour card and bringing players back into the fold and then that sacrifices other people, that’s where the anger comes from. And I understand that.”

That player was reportedly not the only one to respond with rage to the PGA Tour’s sudden U-turn. One player said Monahan was called a hypocrite.

“I recognize that people are going to call me a hypocrite,” Monahan said Tuesday. “Any time I’ve said anything I’ve said it with the information I had at that moment, and I said it based on someone that’s trying to compete for the PGA Tour and our players.”

McIlroy said he knew the lines of communication between the PGA Tour and Saudis had been reopened over the past months, but that he only found out that an agreement had been reached early Tuesday morning.

WATCH | Adam Hadwin sad to see LIV overshadow Canadian Open:

Adam Hadwin sad to see LIV overshadow RBC Canadian Open yet again

Adam Hadwin of Abbotsford, B.C. said he feels sad that news of the PGA Tour-LIV Golf merger has taken emphasis away from Canada’s national men’s golf tournament.

He said he still has confidence in Monahan as commissioner, noting his acumen as a business man.

He also admitted to the hypocrisy of the merger.

“Of course. I said it to Jay yesterday, ‘You’ve galvanized everyone against something and that thing that you galvanized everyone against you’ve now partnered with,” he said.

“The one thing I would say is, again, whether you like it or not, the PIF and the Saudis want to spend money in the game of golf. They want to do this. And they weren’t going to stop. So… how can we get that money into the game, but use it the right way?

“And I think that’s what this ultimately will do, hopefully.”

WATCH | Can a Canadian win the Canadian Open?:

Will a Canuck win the Canadian Open for the first time in nearly 70 years?

A strong Canadian contingent will be teeing it up at the Oakdale Golf & Country Club in Toronto this week.

For all the latest Sports News Click Here 

Read original article here

Denial of responsibility! TechAI is an automatic aggregator around the global media. All the content are available free on Internet. We have just arranged it in one platform for educational purpose only. In each content, the hyperlink to the primary source is specified. All trademarks belong to their rightful owners, all materials to their authors. If you are the owner of the content and do not want us to publish your materials on our website, please contact us by email – [email protected]. The content will be deleted within 24 hours.